BUICK CLASSIC

June 9, 2002

Pat Perez

TODD BUDNICK: Pat Perez finished the tournament at 10-under par, your second second-place finish this year as a rookie.

Pat, I know you're disappointed again, but it's been a tremendous season for you so far.

PAT PEREZ: Yeah. I'm not real happy right now. So answers may be different than what I actually feel.

Yeah, I'm happy with it, but there's no way I should have lost the tournament today.

Q. Was the last couple of holes there when it seemed to slip away from you there --?

PAT PEREZ: I had horrible breaks all day. The front nine was a joke, the breaks I got. I took advantage of one break on 16 with a birdie. I missed a short one on 15. I 3-putted from eight feet on 17. There's no way I should finish at 10.

Q. After you chipped in, looked like you had some momentum; can you just describe from there?

PAT PEREZ: I thought I was going to win. I hit driver on the next hole and I had 90 yards, could I make birdie. 18 is like a joke if you don't make birdie there. If you hit the fairway, you've got a chance of making 3. Of course, I was in the trap, but it didn't matter at that point after 3-putting from eight feet.

Once again, same thing as Pebble.

Q. Is the disappointment harder this time around, considering it's so close, or is the disappointment the same no matter what?

PAT PEREZ: It's the same. Second, it's disappointing, especially when you have that many chances to win.

Q. The putt for par on 17, it looked like you thought it was going in.

PAT PEREZ: Yeah, I think it hit something. It didn't break past the hole, I didn't think it would break two inches outside from three feet like it did.

Q. Do you feel comfortable on this golf course this week?

PAT PEREZ: I didn't like the back nine at all. No matter where they put the pins is ludicrous. I can't believe they put the pins in some places. I don't know, there's not really many spots that you can put them. The greens are small and they have a lot of slope in them. There's not really much that they can do. But, I don't know. I don't know if I feel comfortable or not. I was just trying to play well, I guess.

Q. Is there a certain part of the mental game, maybe this is part of it where you have to block that out?

PAT PEREZ: It's pretty hard to. How are you going to block it out, every time you get in the same position, something is going to come up and you're going to be thinking about it.

So, I don't know. We'll see. Hopefully -- we'll see what happens again.

Q. Going into next week, obviously you're playing well, I know you wanted the win, but it's not like you're not playing well. Does this give you any feeling?

PAT PEREZ: Well, it gives me plenty of confidence for next week. I'll be over it by next Thursday, for sure.

Yeah, I would rather finish second, being upset leaving, than being upset shooting ten over going into next week, for sure. It gives me confidence that I actually can beat these guys, and hopefully compete next week.

Q. Are you going there tomorrow?

PAT PEREZ: Yeah, I'm playing tomorrow at 10:00.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you very much, Pat.

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